Saturday, August 16, 2014

St. Thomas of Canterbury.

St. Thomas of Canterbury, also known as Thomas Becket. He suffered a
pretty bad wounding to the head from King Henry’s men and is often
depicted with a sword through his head. I’ve drawn from my love for
anatomical illustration to show him with his brain exposed and holding a
slice of his preserved brain. An abhorrence to nightingales is also
ascribed to Becket, who is said to have been so disturbed in his
devotions by the song of a nightingale that he commanded that none
should sing in the town ever again. Here are some nailed to the wall of
this study. As Thomas was chastising a priest for his excessive
devotions and masses to the Virgin Mary, the Virgin appeared to the
priest and told the priest that Thomas would find his hairshirt mended
with red thread. Thomas had put the shirt under his bed to mend it
later. Thomas found his hairshirt was indeed mended with red thread and
he gave the priest dispensation to continue to honor the Virgin. Here
you can see her through the window with her red thread.
Work in progress.